Of Mice and Men

Explore the ways sympathy for and/or dislike of a character is created in the text that you have studied. (Curley’s Wife)
Curley’s Wife is the only female character that the readers are properly introduced to in this novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck. She is a rather complex character who is misunderstood so therefore the readers are made to often feel sympathy for her and sometimes dislike in the situations that she often lands herself in. Steinbeck was writing in the period of the 1930’s when women were treated as second class citizens therefore Steinbeck uses the character ‘Curley’s Wife’ to reflect social positions of women during the period in which he was writing. Moreover, Steinbeck presents double standards in society in his novella. Nonetheless, in presenting double standards he also presents the taboo in society through the sexual presentation of Curley’s Wife
Curley’s Wife’ is first introduced to us when Candy is showing George around the ranch; he believes that “I think Curley’s married… a tart.” This is after he mentioned that “I seen her give Slim the eye.” Our first impression on ‘Curley’s Wife’ from what Candy has said, is that she isn’t a very fair woman to her husband, that she goes round flirting with other ranch workers, and is promiscuous when she has only been married for a few weeks. We dislike Curley’s Wife as we are given a prejudiced view towards her and we dislike her without knowing her because of the words used to describe her such as ‘tart’ and ‘tramp’ and hearing how promiscuously she acts. Furthermore, Steinbeck has failed to give ‘Curley’s Wife’ a name, and she isn’t always displayed as ‘Curley’s...